Male and Female Populations

Cancer (malignant neoplasms) was California’s second leading cause of death for males and females during all study years in this report.

Overall, the age-adjusted cancer death rate was lower for females than males throughout the study period. Both males and females experienced statistically significant rate decreases. For males, the age-adjusted cancer death rate fell from 218.6 in 2000 to 185.8 in 2010, a 15.0 percent decrease. The female rate dropped from 158.8 in 2000 to 136.4 in 2010, a 14.1 percent decrease. Annual cancer age-adjusted death rates are shown in Table 3 (PDF).

Age Distribution of Cancer Deaths by Sex

Of California’s 598,786 total cancer deaths from 2000 through 2010, the proportion was about half between males and females (304,915 deaths in males; 293,871 deaths in females).

The average age of death caused by cancer for males and females closely reflect each other. The male average age of death for the time period was 70.4 years with a standard deviation of 14.1 years. The female average age of death was 70.7 years with a standard deviation of 14.7 years.

Age-Specific Rates

The risk of dying from cancer increases with age for both sexes. Age-specific cancer death rates for both males and females were higher in older age groups. Both sexes under 34 closely reflect each other’s age-specific death rates. Females in age groups 35-44 and 45-54 generally had higher age-specific cancer death rates than males in the same age range. Males in age groups 55-64, 65-74, 75-84, and 85 and older had higher age-specific death rates than females in the same age range. Annual age-specific cancer death rates are displayed in Table 2b (PDF) for males and Table 2c (PDF) for females.

Crude Death Rates

During the study period, the actual risk of dying (or crude death rate) from cancer ranged from 151.7 to 158.7 deaths per 100,000 population for males. The female rate ranged from 145.5 to 153.7. Annual rates are displayed in Table 2b (PDF) for males and Table 2c (PDF) for females under the “All Ages” column.

See the Technical Notes for information about rate calculation and trend analysis.